Modern Hero
by bloodyshadow1
Summary: This is a story of Hector Wise, a man that used to be hero years ago and his struggles between his pride and safety in the world today. For the longest time he accepted a life that was peaceful if degrading, but when his aid is requested by a beautiful and scared woman he is dragged into a world that he tried so hard to leave. Please read and review anything would be helpful.
1. Politics of Grand Haven

8

Modern Hero Chapter 1

If you are in the city of Grand Haven, and you have a few coins to spare and a thirst for adventure and knowledge as well as a stiff drink, then you should venture to an establishment known as Wise Magic. You may not have heard of such a place, but it is always busy and my clientele are a rather peculiar bunch. You see, Wise Magic is my nightclub and the first establishment of its kind, perhaps the only one of its kind in all of the New World. I started it up to get back in touch with the Abnormal community in the 1700's. Back then it was just a tavern, one that I created made to serve the Abnormal folk. Being situated in Grand Haven, the magical capital of the New World, Wise Magic drew all sorts, from elder to new gods, from ancient heroes to vicious villains, and many more called the city home. Time stands still for a very few though, so Wise Magic's been renovated and revamped a couple of times. It started as a tavern, and became a pub, then to an opium den, speak easy, to a bar, and other things. Now it's a night club, kind of like an opium den, but with dancing, flashing lights, and music.

My name is Hector Wise, and no, before you ask it's not my real name, just another alias like the hundreds I've used before. Years ago I didn't bother, but that was before I learned about fairies, witches, and every other type of magical folk that could use my name against me, also before I made a lot of enemies.

The world was much smaller back then. Monsters still ate people and gods still meddled in mortal affairs of course, but they had the manners to stay in their own territory and not mix up each other's mythos. That changed though as mankind, or the 'Normals' as I like to call them, discovered each other, and so did their legends. At first, as one would expect, you see, there was this big bloody clash that threatened to rip the world apart. Olympians against Asgardians, Egyptian against Kami, otherworlders against fae, heroes of every age and culture living and dead rose up to do battle, and still more. Pure undistilled chaos unleashed upon the earth as the heavens burned. The fight, and truthfully a fight was all it was as there was never a battle before like that one in any war, lasted less than a day. After a few hours the wisest of each side saw that their petty squabble threatened to destroy the world they were fighting over and advocated a stop to the violence.

A truce was struck between the most powerful of each race, and the fighting ended before the world could be destroyed. The terms were simple, more guidelines than rules: stay out of our lands and we will stay out of yours, any feuds remain between the participants only no proxies regardless of outcome or circumstance, and revenge was absolutely forbidden.

For many years to the Normals, but a precious few for the Abnormals, there was peace, a few small skirmishes, but nothing close to the fight before. Then something happened that shifted the dynamic of our world. A jewel was found, untouched by the clash years before and from the destructive hands of man. The Normals would come to call it the New World and so would we. There were people in this unspoiled land, with stories of their own that came with gods and creatures not seen in the clash. Yet, the sheer amount of untouched, unclaimed land whet the appetites of the greedy and hungry who wanted to extend their influence. Those of the New World had not been a part of the treaty between the old powers, and through that loophole the denizens of the magic world flocked to claim the prize regardless of the will of the New World Gods.

It was not a battle, or a war; just as a man cannot stop the waves if he stands on the beach in a storm, the legends of the New World could not stop the coming wave of the Abnormals from the Old World from coming into their land. Not defeated or destroyed, but simply overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of trespassers, they eventually stopped resisting the inevitable change; it took centuries, but now every old power exists in the New World. Many venture trying to find a bit of land to own in this strange land, however most Abnormals in a single area chose to settle in the city of Grand Haven, which soon became the magical capital of the New World. I don't know why Abnormals chose to settle in Grand Haven. No one did, but as always, the powerful do as they wish without rhyme or reason and this city was chosen above all others.

But that is history, not a story, certainly not my story, though I don't know why I'm telling it. A thousand lifetimes ago, I was a hero, back when the word had a different meaning than it did today. I had been one of the first of Old Worlders who came to what would one day become the US of A, on one of the first ships too. Forgive me; I'm a bit proud of the fact. But I quickly moved away from the English settlement. I didn't want to bring my troubles upon them. During my years of loneliness a few things that happened, but I'll get to them later; those things led me to open the Wise Magic in the 1700's, back when Grand Haven was little more than a village, much less one of the greatest cities in this great country. Since I opened, the tavern it seemed like it had changed hands many different times, but really I just would gift it to a friend of mine who knew how to keep his or her mouth shut when I felt that wanderlust or adventurer's itch. In fact, I just recently took over again from a friend of mine named Revazal, who wanted to make something of her own and was more than happy to return it to me.

Truthfully, Wise Magic barely even resembled a tavern now, it was a nightclub now, but I didn't mind. Unlike a lot of Abnormals who still feel like they should be worshiped by the Normals and stubbornly stuck to the old ways, I knew that you needed to either adapt with time or get left behind. But the one thing I refused to let anyone change was the name. Sometimes people would ask me why, and I would give them a truthful, if not complete answer. 'It was named as an honor to someone important to me,' I would say when anyone asked me about the name.

Tonight started off badly only to get worse. A few of my serving staff called in sick and I know at least one of them was lying. I try to be an understanding boss, so while I could have yelled at them and told them to just come in, instead I just told them to get some rest. I would just have to cover their shifts. Most nights I normally worked as one of the bartenders. As owner I don't have to show up really, but it's good to interact with your customers and staff so they know you care. I wasn't unused to being a waiter though, so while I was out of practice I knew could handle it. Admittedly, it had never ended well for me any time before, but I tried to be an optimist and told myself that maybe tonight would be better. It was not.

At first the night went well, a few complaints from people having a bad day, but for the most part everyone seemed to be happy to see me working the floor beside my employees, especially a few of my regulars who shook my hand or clapped me on the back. But eventually I found the table that I knew was going to trouble.

I did my best to remain professional and took each person's drink orders though I wanted to literally be anywhere else at the moment. It was the last member of the party that I was the most cautious of. When I reached her at the end of the table ready to take her drink order I steeled my courage the best that I could and asked her politely, "may I take your order ma'am?" Yeah, I knew I sounded nervousness even though I tried my hardest to hide it.

I saw her sickeningly sweet smile turn into a predator's grin and I almost broke down then and there. She looked at me and I almost doubled over as if one of her bigger companions punched me in the stomach. She was so beautiful, wavy hair that seemed to change color each second, big round eyes that you could lose yourself in, and curves to die for. Not a hyperbole I have seen her boyfriend kill men who thought his warnings were just bluffs, all wrapped up in a red dress that she looked born to wear. She flipped her hair back and forth and I could swear that somehow she smelled like Valentine's Day. She gave me a once over as she did every time I talked to her, and because she was a regular at Wise Magic, it happened often.

"Oh I will have tequila and a strawberry lemonade sweetie," she said seductively and instantly I could feel fingers of pleasure and lust stab into my brain. She had been doing that for over twenty years, and it never got easier to resist, but somehow, like every time before, I found a way to resist. I forced myself to look her in the eye, every customer deserved to be treated this way, and Aphrodite was no exception, even if Medusa would be a better opponent in a staring contest.

The way she looked at me, the way she called me sweetie, I've had seen men get down on one knee and propose for less. Luckily in a past life, I saw that beautiful face of hers and that pretty smile get ugly real fast, directed at me. Just remembering that memory a little worked better than any cold shower would around the love goddess. "Why don't you sit down and have a drink with us, Hector, you're always working hard. Surely you can take a few minutes to relax with us and have some fun," Aphrodite requested as she batted her eyelashes flirtatiously at me. It was hard resist, even though I knew exactly how ugly she was just below the skin, but if the love goddess didn't make me question her offer, her company did.

At the other end of the table there was of course Ares, Aphrodite's main lover, with a young girl in his lap. Still, even though he had pleasurable company of his own, he glared at me as if a warning to stay away from his girl, as if she didn't bed five other men and women, on a slow day. I will admit that I hate the war god, at least my real face did, but Hector Wise was frightened of everyone that walked through his door, and for now I was Hector Wise, so I had to make sure I looked nervous when he stared at me. I hated how weak people thought I was, it tended to make even the most powerful of beings into bullies instead of enemies; I had far too many of both already, but the former is better than the latter so I play my part.

There was also Bacchus, the Roman counterpart to Aphrodite's cousin Dionysus, the god of wine, madness, and ecstasy; he was drinking heavily all night. Most nights Bacchus was harmless, at times even friendly, perhaps even one of the few Roman gods that I liked, but if he was wronged he could be more dangerous than the other two gods at this table.

The others also glared at me as I waited on Aphrodite. I would guess one was a werewolf from the wet dog smell, one a vampire from his the pale complexion, two rather weak fae from the translucent wings, and a trio of orcs which were easy to tell. None of them were particularly old or powerful from the looks of them, but all were angry at me for daring to encroach on their territory. I had lived during a time when women were literally property, yet the way they slobbered and preened around the love goddess disgusted me.

I tried not to show my disgust. Instead however, I just gave Aphrodite a quick bow and gave the other members of her party one as well, before declining, "I'm afraid I must decline milady, we are understaffed tonight as it is and if their boss was setting a bad example by drinking with his customers then nothing would get done." I hoped that it would be enough to dissuade Aphrodite, if not it tonight would end terribly for me.

"Oh poo," Aphrodite pouted with her bottom lip quivering like she was about to cry and again I hesitated even though I knew better, "but I suppose it can't be helped, go about your business and place our drink order. Be quick about it," she snapped.

That was a bad sign, whatever happened next was going to be very bad for me, I knew it the moment her lips opened with that look in her eyes. But I was a trembling servant now and I had to play my part, so I returned to the bar to fetch their drinks and returned as quickly as I could. I didn't want to go back, but the more time I took, the worse it would get. I knew that I was walking to my own execution, but I didn't stop, I'm an idiot, I know. I passed out the drinks to the right person and made sure to bow and scrape as the bile rose in my throat keeping a professional smile on my face. Surprisingly enough, Aphrodite didn't even seem to notice me, even when I placed her tequila and strawberry lemonade before her. I thought I had been blessed by Tyche herself, I'm willing admit with unashamed that I tried to run away as fast as I could.

"You know Hector," damn the goddesses love and luck both, "I can count on two hands the number of men who turned me down when I asked them to have a drink with me the first time," Aphrodite started, I wonder if she spoke that way thinking that she looked menacing or smart. "But I can't even remember five men who turned me down a second time. However, we've known each other for a few years now; I've been coming here since before you took over the bar from Revazal 20, 30 years ago. And I've invited you to sit down at my table and enjoy some of your delicious liquor every time I'm here. Yet you still turn me down each and every time," and that was when Aphrodite's eyes turned that nasty, and familiar shade of ugly that I knew so well. "So do you not like me? Am I not pretty enough for you? Obviously that's not true, but still, what is wrong with me, that you don't want to spend any time with me." Personally, I thought she was laying on the wounded kitten act pretty thick, but I seemed to be the only one who thought so. Everyone else at the table moved to either comfort her or glare at me.

It wasn't fair; the mask I wore made me look as plain as a man could, I specifically commissioned it to work this way just so I could be forgettable. Aphrodite didn't even care about me the person, she only cared about her wounded pride so I would be punished for my rejection.

Her very large and powerful 'friends' stood up and started to encroach on me and I swallowed hard expecting the worst, but they didn't get their chance to rough me up. To be honest I was pretty good in a scrap or a war, I'm very good at war, but I had been keeping a low profile for hundreds of years and this isn't the first time something like this happened, not even the first time this week. So, I chose to take the beating to keep my identity a secret.

The group beating never came surprisingly enough, "Yeah party," I heard Bacchus say to the right of me and as I turned to see what he was talking about he slammed his thyrsus into my temple. That blow sent me flying into one of the walls like a cartoon character, except where they get flattened and the wall crack, for me, my head was cracked open and I was bleeding everywhere.

Demons below, I've had had worse done to me over the years, but no matter what you've been through, if you aren't invincible, getting your head smashed open and slammed into a wall it will sting a little.

I was actually fine, if a bit dazed, but there was no reason that anyone else had to know that. Olaf Bloodfang, a former Viking now one of my servers and Debbie, who was just Debbie the other bartender, carried my 'unconscious' body upstairs to my office, while everyone quietly watched. A few of my friends seemed like they wanted to lend a hand or get revenge on the goddesses' party, but even if revenge was allowed by the treaty, no one present had enough weight to throw around to stand up to three Olympians, at least not for me. I wouldn't have wanted them to anyway, this way would be less trouble; Aphrodite's party would eventually leave thinking they had won a great debate and everyone present thought I was just another push over, business as usual.

I know that it's better for me in the long run and after all these years I should be used to being treated like this. Still, I hated having to bow and scrape for these overgrown brats. Seven hundred years I would have put anyone who treated me this way in their place, but that was a long time ago. Instead of thinking of revenge I thought about my old life more than three thousand years ago, when I was a different man who wouldn't take the tantrums of immortal children for even a second. Back when as a mortal man and one of the greatest warriors who ever lived, but that had been before I accepted one of life's rarest gifts and became a god and everything changed.


	2. Last Call

Modern Hero Chapter 2

My pride had suffered indignities often in my long life during my attempts to keep my life peaceful, this night was nothing new. Beaten in my own business by a drunk who decided to prematurely smash my skull in before a couple of Aphrodite's toys did, well it had been almost a year since I suffered that, but I was alive so no harm no follow. Truthfully, Bacchus probably saved me from worse punishment at the hands of the Greek god of war and Aphrodite's other admirers, even if that wasn't his intention. There was no malice in the wine god's actions so I didn't bother to consider holding a grudge, grudges were never worth it in the long run, and the long run was all that really mattered when you're going to live forever.

I'll admit, the way I suffered the indignities at the hands of my 'patrons' burned me, but I turned it aside and tried to make something productive out of it as I tried to decide what to do trapped in my office. If I went down stairs and waited tables like before everyone would know I wasn't really hurt from the beating Bacchus gave me, which meant that I could take a lot more punishment than I had let on all these years. That could be a problem, and that was assuming Aphrodite's entourage left, more likely they were still down there laughing at what just happened, it would be even worse if they saw me walking around unhindered.

No, it would be better if I just stayed up in my office and got some of the more boring work that I'd been putting off for a while done. Bills, orders to refresh my stock, inventory reports, it was all important, but nothing that anyone would write a story about. I would much rather be behind the bar, or even waiting on tables than being stuck up here with this boring work, but it needed to be done. So I waved Debbie off of me, since Olaf was a Viking he didn't think I needed to be coddled and just told me to lie down. He's a good man. But Debbie, Debbie was just Debbie like I said before, there is more to her story but I don't really feel like getting into it just yet. She was, as far as you know, just a very sweet girl… I'm probably lying but hey, what do you know. She was barely twenty five as far as I could tell, and far too sweet for this line of work, yet somehow she survived without making a certain choice. That choice will also become more important later on.

She tried to baby me, wet washcloth cleaning the blood off my face and everything, I appreciated it, but I finally managed to convince her that I was fine. "I promise Deb," I only call her that when I want her to do something for me, it usually works, "I'm fine, I've experienced worse. You know I've experienced worse, I just have a small headache from getting my head smashed, but other than that I'm fine." The headache was actually quite bad, but I didn't let her know that. If I did she would spend all night trying to make me feel better.

"Okay boss," Debbie said obviously not buying it, but you can't really call your boss out on things like this. She left to man the bar, which was important, so I could get up and do the paperwork that was also important.

But first, I needed someone to fill in for the boss who was supposed to fill in for Sandra who called in sick. Debbie, Marley, Chris, Oak, and Olaf Bloodfang came in today like they were supposed to, on a slower night that would be all Wise Magic would need, but for some reason every Abnormal in the city decided to pick this Thursday night to go out and party; our D.J. wasn't even here during the week yet they still flocked here, maybe it was a holiday tomorrow or something. Normally, I had at least seven people, a regular bartender, and myself acting as a barkeep, but this week was just bad for most of his staff. Sweetums had asked for this weekend off months ago, Orin had taken off for religious reasons, the Wandering Horror was visiting its in-laws, Xaclan got lost in the area between planes and wouldn't be back for a while, Dirk the Swift was on vacation, Maple was off fighting an evil wizard, Sandra, Emily, and Lance all called in sick. That left only Nightshadow and Coyote who both had day off; I hated to call one of them now. They were two of my best workers and they tended to work more than anyone else in the club except for me and I wanted to let them enjoy their free time, but we are especially understaffed now that I was banished to my office so there was no other choice.

Don't get me wrong, I like my office, it's as cozy as an office of a nightclub owner could be. It's a pretty big space, I think I was am claustrophobic at least a little, so it was good to have enough space to get up and pace if I needed to think instead of being trapped behind a desk. Speaking of, I made sure to furnish my office how I liked, made for my pleasure instead of hopes to look professional. I have a big oak desk with a lot of fancy drawers that held important papers and stuff, with a swivel chair that lets me go anywhere in my office without getting up. I have three comfy chairs in front on the other side of my desk for any important business meetings I have, during those I usually hide my Bugs Bunny phone, because Lance says that it doesn't look quite professional. What does a medieval knight know about business meetings anyway, probably a lot more than me but still, it kills me inside each time I put it into one of my desk drawers. I also have a couch and a coffee table, apparently all nightclub owners need one to do drugs on or something, but it's kind of a nice table, dark wood carved with intricate figures of Susanoo fighting the Orochi with a glass surface to put stuff on, so I don't feel like tainting it by pouring drugs on it. I don't even do mortal or Abnormal drugs I'm certainly not going to ruin my nice coffee table simply because it's what I'm supposed to do. The one thing in my office that I didn't put in myself was the bar, that was put in by Anubis a hundred years ago or so when he took over the tavern for me, and I thank him every day for it. When Revazal owned the place, she used to stock it with whiskey, I don't mind whiskey, but I prefer wine so that's what is there now.

I grabbed my Bugs Bunny phone and called up Coyote, he was a good worker is a bit sarcastic, he also always had free time so he was a better choice than Nightshadow; she would be working tomorrow anyway so there was no point in bringer her in early, besides, her fiancé would be upset with me, they don't have enough quality time together as it is. I typed the number in and waited for him to pick up, "yeah," a voice on the other side answered. He sounded kind of annoyed but he didn't sound like he was sleeping so that was a good sign.

"Hey Coyote, its Hector," I'm not sure how many Hectors he knew, I personally know a few, but I'm sure he knew it was me.

"Oh hey boss, what's up," he sounded a lot more cordial now that he knew it was his boss calling, but I wasn't fooled. Coyote only worked for me because we were friends, I don't have any power over him, not even the power a boss has over an employee, but that might be why he's such a good worker. "Do you need me to come in tonight?"

"How'd you know," but I guess that it was a stupid question. Coyote was a New World god he's weird like that; he probably used some strange power that they didn't have back in the old world to see what's going on.

"I checked my caller ID and it said that you were calling from the club, usually means that you want me to come in," he said like he was talking to a child. Or he could just do that I suppose; magic would have been cooler though. "Don't pout, and don't say you aren't because I can tell," stupid New World animal god, knows me so well he can already guess what I'm about to do. "You aren't the only one I can read, in fact you're one of the hardest, must be those centuries of lying." Oh yeah I almost forgot that Coyote knew who I really was, damn it, far too many people knew my identity already.

At first I think discovering my identity was just a weird game for him, to see if he could find out the mystery that most people didn't even know existed. Most Abnormals didn't know each other's culture, so when they ran into someone who they didn't know they just assumed that they were from some other place that they've never been, if they were important enough to now they would have heard of them no matter where they were from. This mindset had helped me a lot over the years after the clash since everyone assumed I belonged to another group other than their own and let it drop.

Unfortunately, that didn't apply to the New World Abnormals, to them, every Abnormal who came from across the seas were strangers and belonged to one group, even if they crossed different oceans. Some of them were curious about the new arrivals and wanted to learn as much as they can about the new comers stories. That was fine for most, Abnormals tended to be vain and desperate to cling to their fame, they were more than happy to regal everyone with tales of heroic, power, and other things that people tend to brag about, I don't know. However, there are others like me who saw coming to the New World as a fresh start, a way to leave the past on the other side of the oceans. "I must be good at it you're the only one who actually found out without me trusting enough to tell," apparently I'm something of a celebrity in the circles they run since so few know my true identity and even fewer are willing to talk about it, another reason why I moved around so much even here.

The way Coyote found my identity was not a way I enjoyed, it was far worse than all indignities that I had suffered in my line of work. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that," he said and I knew he really was, which is why he is still able to walk around after forcing me into such a situation.

"Water off a duck's back," I say trying to let that particular memory remain buried, "you've tried your best to make up for it, I can't ask you to do any more. But can you come in or not, I need someone here to cover for me and you and Nightshadow are the only ones available."

After a staying quiet for a few seconds he spoke up, "yeah, I'll be there in 15 Warrior King," he said before hanging up. Well there was that nickname he gave me after finding out; I suppose that means he was out of his funk which was good for a waiter.

That just left me alone with just my thoughts and a big stack of boring, if necessary, paperwork. Unlike a lot of my peers I don't have what would now be referred to as ADHD or ADD, at times like this I wish I did, it would have given me an excuse to slack off. But no, poor me has to be one of the few warriors from my day that wasn't completely off my gourd with excess energy 24/7. It took a few hours and several glasses of wine, but I finished what I could until about an hour before closing. My headache got worse by that time, but it wasn't enough to really hinder me.

I took a few minutes to relax and get up to stretch, but I was interrupted, "Boss," Debbie called from the other side of my door. "D.J. Seven-Seventy is here to talk to you about tomorrow," she said coming in not even bothering to knock. It was a policy that I established with all my new employees, my door was always open to my employees… even when it was closed… metaphorically. I don't know get off my back I'm tired and old; I have other things to worry about.

"Thanks Debbie, I could use a break after finishing this boring paper work," I say walking back behind my desk ready to meet my weekend D.J.

"No problem boss," she said giving me that almost sweet innocent little girl smile that so many men in this day and age find incredibly sexy on a twenty year old woman. She led a blonde man into my office, okay just a warning, this guy was good looking, I'm friends with a lot of pretty men, but this guy was like, beyond handsome. That is going to raise some questions that I don't really feel like answering right now, so I'm going to sweep them under the rug for now. He walked in with the confidence of seven larger men, with robot arms, glancing back to catch a glimpse of Debbie when she left the room after bringing him in. He did a bit more than linger before sitting down, but so did Debbie when she walked out to look at his backside at the same time, she was aware of it and so was he. If neither of them minded, I wasn't going to say anything. But eventually he did sit down, with his head still facing the other way; he had been here enough times to navigate the room without having to look.

"So what's up Hector? I heard you had a rough night and Almighty Zeus," the D.J. exclaimed when he finally turned around and saw me. Okay I will admit it, I look like a mess, but did I really warrant this guy bringing Big Z's name down on me. Yeah, I kind of did. My clothes were all unruffled, my shirt was unbuttoned, my hair was a mess all unruly and what not, and I was covered in my own blood still. To be honest, since I became immortal, my own blood seemed less important, all I know is that it is tasty and red. It should be golden, but I take great lengths to conceal my identity I drink a potion to make sure it stays red when it comes out instead of the golden color of ichor. I know for a fact that my blood is tasty though, Oak my vampire employee told me so and the other vampires I owe favors too let my pay in my extremely tasty blood so I know it's a good vintage …I have odd things that I take pride in.

But getting back to my original point, I looked like a mess and I wasn't trying to hide it. That was the good thing about my office being up here above the club with one-way glass windows let me see out, but they couldn't see me up here in my sorry state. I'll admit looking down at my club, all the people, Abnormals, Normals, down there like they were below me made me feel good. I wonder if the gods of each walk of life felt like this staring down at us puny mortals and are toils. If so, I can forgive their arrogance I bit I guess, I often stare down at two stories for a few minutes and feel so powerful and great, if I did it for years, I could get a little full of myself. But I wasn't one to let such things cloud my mind so I rarely stood in front of the scene when I didn't have to check on things. "It's not that bad, is it," I ask knowing already that I look quite the mess, and now that pretty boy is in the room I look even worse in comparison.

"It's pretty bad boss," he said, he seemed pretty hesitant to go into detail, which I was grateful for I guess, "it probably isn't as bad as it seems but since you're wearing that ridiculous mask it probably amplifies the way your wounds look." He explained, it didn't make me feel better though, it only reminded me that another person knew who I was underneath this mask.

"Let's forget about how awful I look now and talk about business. Are you ready to go on," I ask him. We go over this every Thursday night, and it's always the same thing, but I try to keep it professional.

"Of course Hector, D.J. Seven Seventy is always ready to perform," he proclaimed stressing the last syllable of Seventy so it almost sounded like Sevenday. It was how it was supposed to sound, but I still found it a bit weird, but hey, I'm not hip like he is.

"You're still going with that name," I tease a bit.

"Laugh it up, you're not the best person to make fun of someone's name Hector Wise," he stressed my alias like it was just as absurd as his own. "At least my stage name is my name backwards and upside-down; you took yours from someone you fought a long time ago and the word wise. I guess I could preform on as D.J. Apollo, but I want people here to respect me for my music, not for my name."

I wince, not because of what he says, but how he says it, stressing some words louder than they should be with no warning. Each time it's like a nail stabbing into my brain, stupid headache. "So any lasting damage from the beating Bacchus gave you," Apollo asked. "Come on," he gestured for me to get closer even though I shook my head no, I probably shouldn't have done that, since at the smallest shake brought out more pain, it's possible my headache was getting worse, "God of medicine and healing over here. Put aside your pride and let me fix you up, it won't even take a minute," after a few more clichéd, 'get over here so I can help you on,' his part, and a few clichéd, and some 'no I'm fine,' phrases on mine; I relented and let him heal me. He walked over and placed both hands on the sides of my head, my temples I think, and whispered a few words in ancient Greek that rhymed and glowed a bit, after I could feel the pressure in my head instantly lessen. "There," he said when it was done, "all better bossman, and it didn't even take a minute." He said a bit smugly, but I let him since he did me a kindness. I'm old I can say things like doing a kindness.

"You know, you probably wouldn't need to get your butt kicked so much if you took off that mask every once and a while and showed off the man underneath," he suggested. "I know for a fact that even Ares would think twice before bullying you again, quite the feat seeing as most of the time he doesn't think once."

"Or, if I reveal my true identity I could run the risk of having the much more dangerous foes that I've made, who haven't even sniffed of a connection between Hector Wise and the man I once was, come down on my head. No, I would rather keep up the constant minor beating that at worse give me a headache, instead of facing down creatures that could and would level Grand Haven just to hurt me," I say a bit more snappish than I wanted, but it's not like I haven't had this conversation with like every single person who knew my real identity before. You know the ones that actually liked me.

Listen; to be honest I wouldn't mind if most Normals found out who I was, most of them wouldn't know me anyways. There are literally thousands of heroes that have been forgotten by history, and I was one of them. Unfortunately, that is not the case for the Abnormal community, we tend to have long memories and hold grudges. In this world, I have formed and cultivated many relationships, not all of them good; in fact I've burned several hundred bridges in my time. Several hundred expensive and angry bridges that have both political and smash you like a bug with a nose twitch power. I have a good thing going would like if they did not come into my city to in an attempt to kill me, being immortal means they can't do so, which then leads to a lot of destruction and my friends getting hurt in the crossfire.

"Whatever you say bossman," Apollo said getting up from his chair, if I offended him I couldn't tell, but I didn't want to say anything else to risk it. Apollo is not a friend, we can be civil and often on the same side, but I would be a fool to assume that we were anything more than allies. "Just a warning though Hector," he said before he walked out the door. He turned to me and his eyes glowed golden, "Just because you don't want to remove your mask and show everyone the real you, doesn't mean you'll always have a choice in the matter." Then he left and closed my door behind him, and then he stuck his head back in, "oh and Debbie wanted me to tell you that Aphrodite's party left so if you want to go down and work the bar for the last hour before closing you should be okay, tootles,"

When a god, especially the god of prophecies, says something like that to you, you take notice. I scrambled out my door to ask him what he meant, but by the time I reached the door to open it Apollo was gone. I'm not sure if he did the whole, godly teleport thing that everyone but me seems to be able to do or if he just moved at super speeds, but there was no trace of him anywhere. Oh well, he would be here tomorrow, that was something good about the sun god, he was always there when he said he would be, just as the sun would rise each day. Like I said, oh well, I'm going to be aware of what he said, but I wouldn't let it take over my life, prophecies man, can't fight um, can't understand um.

I walked down to the bar after readjusting my mask; the spell on it seemed to put my fake face back in order after I moved it around a bit. I was still covered in blood, but at least I didn't look like an elephant stomped on my head anymore, so I fixed up my hair a bit to cover the worse parts and went down to man the bar. Most of our patrons had left by now, only a few of the more competitive drinkers remained, but I served them all happily, I was glad to be able to get out from under the paperwork and see people. After I distributed the round of drinks for last call I walked over to Aidas one of my regulars. He had been coming here since Wise Magic first opened in fact, back when I opened it as a tavern wearing a different face and using a different name. He was an Abnormal that I didn't recognize, but I knew he was some sort of god, I could tell that much. He came here almost every night, normally he would order one glass of something rare and expensive and would nurse it all night. he would always have the one, but I didn't mind. Aidas was an interesting man to talk to regardless so we tended to have a chat whenever I was working and he was here.

"I see you're up and about after that asskicking you took earlier Hector," Aidas said with a smile. He was an older man, or at least he looked older than I did with and without my mask, but he didn't look old. Age rarely mattered though in the Abnormal community, especially with the divine members. He was in good shape, not overly so though, more like a runner than a bodybuilder. He also had hair darker than the night, not that uncommon in my world. I guess you could say Aidas was handsome, again, not overly so, but I doubt his wife complained if the wedding band on his fingers was any indication of his marital status. But at the wedding band and his wife I tried to distance my thoughts, I would be busy enough with a different wedding in little more than a week, I would prefer to keep that at the back of my mind as I could. "As always," he said raising his glass in a toast to me.

"What can I say, I'm a fast healer, as are most of my patrons," I said not wanting to give anything away. Aidas was a good person to talk to, friendly, understanding, noninvasive, etc. what more could a person ask for. But that didn't mean that I trusted him enough to reveal who I was. Most who knew, knew because they figured it out or have known me all of my immortal existence; I can count of two hands the number of people alive today that know my identity.

"That's true I guess," Aidas said taking another sip, "but I'm just wondering why you do it," he asked me.

"What get my butt handed to me a couple of times a week," I ask pulling a cork out of a wine bottle with my teeth and then I took a sip from the source. It was terrible, poor vintage and mediocre body, it wasn't something I would serve to my enemies much less my customers, but it fit my mood just fine. I took another sip and didn't grimace, I was use to swill like this. Truthfully, I was more worried that he would start preaching to me about standing up for myself. I liked Aidas, I had known him forever and he was a good person to talk to. We had fun swapping stories with eachother like the old men we didn't look like, but were. But I had enough people telling me what to do without recognizing my reasons for pretending to be weak.

"Well yes, I just want to know why you put up with it," he asked. He was just holding in glass methodically, as if he was unsure if he wanted another one or not.

"What, the bullying? What else am I supposed to do fight," I was baiting him now. If he said anything about fighting it would be my fault, at least it would take away my reason for getting angry at him if the conversation drifted that way.

"Well yes, I suppose you could fight them off if you have the strength, I know you do," he started the same as Apollo and Coyote. However, he sounded different like there was a 'but' coming, "But," see, "that wasn't what I wondering about. Why are you still here, Hector? You've run away in the past, back when you were John, and Mickey, and when you were Derek, and several others. You've always run away when you wanted to or you had to, but why do you keep coming back every time?"

When I started Wise Magic up as a tavern I made because I was sick of being alone after what happened. I don't know why I keep coming back I had never really thought about it before to be honest. The only reason why I always came back to Wise Magic was, probably because I knew that it was mine, and remained so for over three hundred years. I couldn't say the same for most of the things I own today.

Maybe it wasn't even Wise Magic that drew me back each time, maybe it was just Grand Haven. Like I said earlier, for some reason the Abnormal folk gather here in Grand Haven. I have heard all sorts of reasons and theories, from leylines to everyone sense the calm before the storm of a personal grudge brewing. I never really put much stock into them, we were the stories the Normals made up, I don't think that we need crazy stories of our own. "It's the closest thing I have to a home on this side of the ocean, that's why I come back," I decided out loud.

But Aidas seemed to take it well as he nodded and said, "well I suppose home is of good of a reason as any to come back." He had a knowing smile on his face though, like he knew a joke that I didn't hear. "Well, I guess that's that," he said finishing the last of his drink with one gulp, "good night to you Hector, and remember what we talked about okay." He paid and left quickly without much fuss.

He was the last customer tonight as usual, so I locked up the place, it would be fine until the night crew arrived to clean in about an hour. I took a couple of burgers and fries from the kitchen for my roommates and me. I had called home during my ordeal with the necessary documents and asked if they were cooking anything or if I would have to bring something home. I had to. The burgers were kind of cold, but hey, they're free and if my roommates weren't going to cook than they aren't going to complain.

I didn't live that far away from Wise Magic; my apartment complex is actually just down the street so I always walked home. For some people it probably wouldn't be safe to do the same, but I always make sure to run off the gangs out of this of the city area before they can lay down roots. I always wear a mask of course, often times the gangs are just Normal kids trying to get what they think they deserve, but I still wouldn't want any news about a local bartender dispatching his own brand of vigilante justice. That would be pretty cool to be a superhero though, I freaking love comic books and am not ashamed to admit it.

But no, I was already a hero once and it didn't turn out good for anyone involved, if I get actual superpowers, who knows what I could screw up. Life's been pretty boring recently, even for me, but hey, it could be worse. It's better to leave things the way they were, I'm perfectly content to let things go at their own pace, without hoping for some big catastrophe to occur and shake things up.


	3. Home Sweet Hovel

Modern Hero Chapter 3

I strolled past Johnny, the elderly doorman of my apartment complex, The Argo, with a friendly wave which he returned with a tip of his hat as I entered the stair well. I knew Johnny when he was just a little kid playing stickball in the middle of the streets with the other children how could he turn into such an old man in a short fifty years or so. I'm not even sure if he recognized me, or if he did he must have thought I was my own son or something. Johnny had lost most of his sight when he was 16; a machine that had no business being on a factory floor yet exploded close to him. Several people died, some were in even worse shape than Johnny had been, but they tried to save as many as they could, or at least were willing. Back then there weren't things like workers comp so his family could have been in big trouble. But I stepped in and got him a job as a doorman here, he never was any good at it, but it gave his family a bit more wiggle room than they would have had.

I took the stairs like always even though I knew it would take longer with me living on the fifth floor, but I liked the exercise that it gave. I'm not one of those old Abnormals that thought the modern folk were coddled with their new technological comforts, but I will never enjoy elevators. Trusting a small steel box held up only by wires seemed a bit too risky for my immortal life. I'm not afraid of course, they'd have to have a lot more malice in them for me to be afraid of them, but it didn't hurt to be cautious of steel deathtraps.

Going up six flights of stairs and then down one because I wasn't paying attention gave me plenty of time to try to get into my mindset of being home. I live with two other guys, both of them are Abnormals and they both know who I am so I don't have to hide like I do at work. I opened the door and put the food on the counter for them, I'll admit, our apartment was a very nice apartment. We spent a lot of time making it a home, not to mention a lot of money, so our fifth floor apartment would be better than most penthouses in New York or Vegas.

Money isn't really an issue since the three of us are rather well off without dipping into our old money; Wise Magic made me more money than I would know what to do with in a single lifetime and the other two had jobs that made more than I did. We didn't even really need our jobs though, we all have several stashes hidden all over the planet, each alone would allow us to buy and sell some of the wealthiest men in the country. But jobs passed the time, which was needed in this world that has grown so boring and docile these many years.

I took out my keys and opened the door slowly so I could see inside first. I'm willing to admit I'm paranoid, but when you have as many old and powerful enemies as I do, paranoia isn't really crazy, it's required. There was no one there that I could see or sense except for those that also called this place home, there never is. There are very few stupid or arrogant enough to ambush an Abnormal in their own dwelling. With us, home field advantage is much more important than in any sport.

I strolled in and saw my two roommates, Bal and Colin were sitting on the couch playing video games like usual. "I'm home," I say going into our kitchen/dining room as they greet me with a 'hey,' and 'sup,' respectively. I put the burgers I brought from work onto the island in the kitchen for them and got out a bottle of wine from the fridge before going into the living room and collapsing into my easy chair to watch the competition.

I know that I drank a lot already when I was at work, but I have a god's metabolism, or something. It means that I only get drunk when I want to, hells below, I could do nothing but drink wine for a year and not even feel the slightest hint of a buzz unless I willed it. Tonight I didn't want to get drunk, but I did want to find that happy medium between wasted and content. Besides, it tasted good on my tongue, which meant that I would be drinking a lot of it.

Finn, our baby tiger moved to me and gave my leg an affectionate nuzzle. Technically, Finn was Colin's cat, but since he lived here with us and liked me the best, he became our cat. I picked him and brought him into my lap to give him an affectionate scratch on his ears. At least my cat still loved me even if he was an immortal baby tiger cub, that just meant he was a freak like the rest of us.

Uh oh, this was not a good direction for my thoughts to go and I know it, that doesn't mean I can stop them though. "And with that," Bal said tucking his tongue to the right corner of his mouth, a sure sign he was kicking someone's ass at video games, "we are… done here." Bal's character just did a pirouette on the face of Colin's character, clinching the match for him. To the best of my knowledge, no one can beat Bal at videogames; fighting, shooting, RPG, dance, trivia, it didn't matter, he was unstoppable.

Okay, before I get into it and forget, let me tell you a few things about my roommates, their names are Bal and Colin. They have been my best friends for a number of years. And they are both extremely pretty, like too pretty for guys to be. They both work as models; world famous, idols of millions, and all that other jazz that goes with it. Man I sound old.

Colin is average height and slim, kind of pale too. He had longish hair which was a mixture of red and brown that only fit to make him look more effeminate, but it complimented his fiery green eyes well. With his feminine looks and slight frame very few would guess that he's a warrior, one of the greatest that ever lived like I used to be. Unlike me however, he never tried to hide that he was a warrior or let anyone forget that he was. He wasn't violent or anything, but he did have a temper which when prodded, made him go berserk. But most of the time he was a nice guy and a great friend.

Bal was a bit different, he was just as pretty as Colin or even prettier since he is a real god born and raised, not a half god like Colin or a reborn god like me. He was tall and not quite muscular, but looked more than just in good shape like me, somehow it worked with his feminine looks, but I don't know how. He had blonde, almost white, hair and he kept it shorter than Colin or me, but it was still kind of long for a male of this day and age, but on him no one seemed to care. Everyone loved Bal, I'm trying not to sound jealous, but if you went out partying with him or just walking down the street, you would know why I feel this way. Bal is a very sweet and kind person, always ready to listen when you have a problem or just because, but his unnatural ability to get people to like him went beyond his charisma or good looks. People who didn't even know him would practically worship him at first sight, it get kind of frustrating to deal with when you get ignored by those same people. But he's still one of my best friends, and I've known him longer than almost anyone, so I try and ignore the way everyone else acts around him and keep my frustrations inside.

"Foods in the kitchen," I said seeing they're done with their game. Colin didn't even wait before jumping over the back of the couch and running to the kitchen and running back with the Styrofoam containers of food I brought them.

"Thanks Hector," Bal said grabbing a container for himself before Colin could tear them both apart.

"Yeah thanks man, you're a life saver. I'm starving," Colin said taking the cold burger out of its container. He was practically salivating in anticipation.

I close my eyes and lean back into the soft folds of my chair. "No problem. You guys no I'm always willing to grab you guys a doggy bag before leaving work," even I wince before I finish. The joke wasn't only a bad one, it was in poor taste and needlessly cruel. Yeah I was in a bad mood, but these guys were my friends, they didn't deserve to be treated like this because I was pissed at other Aphrodite and Bacchus.

Colin stopped the burger an inch before his mouth, and reexamined it. With a disgusted sigh he dropped the burger that had been tantalizing only a few seconds before like it was made from squashed rats. "You're a dick," he said picking at his fries unhappily.

"He's right Hector, you're certainly in a mood tonight," Bal agreed. He took a bite of his burger and looked satisfied though, "it's fine Colin," he said after checking.

"I know, that was uncalled for and I'm sorry," I admitted. When you feel bad for something you should say sorry right? "I've just had a rough night, but I shouldn't take it out on you. There's no dog meat in the burgers I promise, just cow," I swore to them, there really wasn't.

Colin pick up his burger again and glared at me for a moment before taking a bite and letting out a little moan at how good it tasted. "So what has you in such a mood tonight? Does it have anything to do with the sorry state you're in," Bal asked me now that the food issue was resolved.

"What sorry state, I always look like a mess," I said in a feeble attempt to divert the conversation. It was true though, in away. My mask always made me look bland, but in addition it made me looked unkempt, so even if boring was acceptable my lack of self-care wouldn't be.

"That's not what I mean and you know it Hector," Bal said in an almost motherly tone that made me feel guilty. "I was talking about the fact that you're covered in blood. From the look and color of it, not quite as red as a normal person's and kind of shiny, it's your blood. So what happened?"

"Normal stuff, one of my customers got a bit wild and smashed me into a wall," I admitted, but tried to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal. And to be honest, it really wasn't, it happened all the time so why did tonight get under my skin so much.

"Who was it," Colin asked through a mouthful of meat, bread, and vegetables. Swallowing he spoke up again, "Ares, Thor, Grendel, or someone else, you tend to get beaten up. I guess because you don't let your true strength show you seem like such an easy target for the overgrown bullies of our world."

"Bacchus actually, it was Bacchus who slammed my head into the wall with his thyrsus," I told him coming clean.

"Bacchus, you mean the Roman wine god," Bal asked. As if he didn't know Bal knows everyone in the Abnormal community, even outside of his pantheon. And he didn't have to work in a bar to learn about them either.

"Isn't a thyrsus a pinecone on a stick," Colin asked adding his two cents in.

"Yes," I said putting my fingers to my head. I was starting to feel my headache coming back, "to both questions."

"Wow, at least when you get beaten up by Ares you get beaten up by a war god, but a wine god, that is not nearly as forgivable," Colin said. He was joking of course, he was Irish, and he knew how dangerous Abnormals could be just because even when their station didn't sound threatening. Colin was actually very smart and well read actually, but he preferred to keep that part of himself hidden so people would think he was only dumb muscle or a pretty face. That might be why he choose to become a model instead of something else; sitting around being told what to do and look pretty helped him keep up the façade. Personally though, I think he's been doing it so long that it's become second nature to him and he forgets that his friends know the real him underneath the ditzy beauty he tries to portray. "If he's just a god of wine than just take your mask off for a night and show your whole bar who owns it. It will be fun and no one will treat you like their doormat again." He knows why I can't, he might not completely understand or agree with my reasons, but he knows.

Still, I chose to patronize him by pretending he was a fool. "Do you know the story of King Pentheus of Thebes," I ask him taking another sip of my wine, hoping I look menacing. "You might have heard it called, 'The Bacchae,' the story was adapted into a play by Euripides."

"I think I've heard of it, I assume it is about Bacchus otherwise the play should have a new name," Colin said playing along. He could pretend to be a fool all he as much as I could pretend to be a cowardly weakling, but we can't hide who we are forever. I have much more practice at my deception and it's a lot less desirable to drop it. Colin however, couldn't hide his love of learning from me and his interest in a tale he had never heard betrayed him.

"Dionysus actually, but the story is actually more attributed to Bacchus more since the whole name thing is closer. The story still fits them both however. It started like a lot of other stories of the time, Zeus was feeling frisky and he saw this woman, Semele a daughter of the house of Cadmus and a priestess of Zeus, who he thought was hot. You can probably guess what happens, a wham, bam, thank you mam later she ends up pregnant. However, unlike most of Zeus' liaisons Semele was willing and proud that her child was the son of Zeus and would say so to anyone who would listen. Probably not a smart thing when you live in a world where Zeus' wife is a very powerful and jealous goddess. Hera tricks her into making Zeus promise to reveal his true form to her and she gets burnt to ash, but Zeus, or Hermes in some stories, manages to save the baby by sewing him into the skyking's thy. When the baby was born, he was born a full god instead of the regular demi-god because he came from Zeus instead of a mortal mother, it's weird I know since his mother, who he was conceived in, was mortal, but not really that important."

"That's just really the backstory, however an element often overlooked in retelling was that Semele's sisters didn't believe that she was carrying the child of Zeus and told her so. When she was burnt to ash they claimed that it was because of Semele's blasphemous slander of the gods which lead her to be punished. Bacchus didn't like this so he decided to shun his home town and instead traveled the world gathering followers, especially the maenads; women who could gain super strength when going into a trance that would drive them mad and make them lose all control. They also supposedly get really lusty, which is true, though the amount of sexual desire tends to be exaggerated. I think Bacchus himself spread the rumor so that people would tend to assume that's all the maenads are and not crazy, super strong, orgies of death that they really are."

"Well now that he's famous all over the world, Bacchus decides that now might be a good time to return to Thebes and reconnect with the family that called his mother a lying, blasphemy spewing, whore. Bacchus puts all the women of Thebes under a spell that makes them become maenads in their 'trance' and abandon the city; including Semele's sisters, his aunts, one of which Agave was the mother of the city's current king Pentheus. Well Pentheus gets pissed that this guy was using trickery, or some other way he justified it, to mess with him, his city, and the women of his city and orders his army to arrest anyone who engage in rituals to Bacchus who he thinks is a false god. His army actually gets stomped bloody by the army of maenads, but they manage to capture one of Bacchus' priests, actually the god in disguise. Pentheus, who can't really keep his mind out of his pants is secretly fascinated in the Bacchae's rituals and tries to get the 'Stranger' to reveal their secrets to him. The Stranger refuses, but then agrees to show him when he can see just how much Pentheus wants to see these vulgar practices."

"Bacchus has a lot of fun with Pentheus who is eating out of his hand. He makes the king dress up like a woman because of Pentheus' own decree that anyone caught participating in the rituals would be arrested. So Pentheus and Bacchus go out into the forest to see the maenads doing their thing, having sex, drinking the gods wine, and tearing apart animals and men with their bare hands, that sort of stuff. Pentheus wants a better view though and tries to climb a tree, but he can't, so Bacchus uses his powers to make the tree lean down so Pentheus can get to the top and see the whole thing. Now here, you are probably questioning just how stupid Pentheus is for not realizing who his companion was, and I would say anywhere from pretty to very. When Pentheus gets to the top and finally sees everything, Bacchus does him a favor by letting him get an even better view… by calling to his followers and showing them the king trapped on the tree. The maenads find him and go into a frenzy which leads them to tearing Pentheus apart. Specifically, it was Pentheus' own mother Agave and her sisters that did it and still under Bacchus' spell Agave presented her son's head like a trophy to her father, Cadmus, who also insulted Semele. She didn't even know what she had done until the spell wore off. That one night destroyed their house and taught everyone around the lesson of not messing with Dionysus, or Bacchus, who also sends leopards at you. Bacchus isn't just the god of wine and parties; he's also the god of madness, theatre and ecstasy and he has a very bad temper when he feels slighted." I finish my story and lay back into my chair, it was a bit long and I guess the back story wasn't really necessary or at least didn't have to be that long, but I think I got my point across. "Besides, I'm not going to fight him because he probably saved me the trouble of a worse beating from Aphrodite's posse."

"I was wondering why Bacchus was the one to mess you up, I've met the Roman and he always seemed quite friendly, if a bit forward and out there," Bal said thoughtfully. "What did Aphrodite do to you now?"

"Nothing new really, just you know the flirting and trying to coerce me into her bed. This time though when I refused her she played the wounded puppy card and was going to get her entourage to beat me up. That's why Bacchus, drunk off his ass, thought that it was that type of party and slammed his thyrsus into my head leaving a me shaped indent into one of my walls." I said trying to down play what happened.

"Why did you turn Aphrodite down, why do you always turn her down, she's hot," Colin asked.

"Because I hate her," he knows this of course he just loves acting stupid. "She's cruel, she's manipulative, she's spoiled, and she hates me more than I hate her. Would you sleep with her," I ask him almost angrily.

"Well no, I wouldn't touch her with the tip of my spear and a thousand condoms on, but I get laid literally all the time. You haven't gotten any is what, like a century," he asked trying to turn the tables.

"Longer than that," I admit. Truthfully though, it's been much more than a single century. I'm almost positive I wasn't on this side of the ocean the last time I was with someone in a bed in the biblical sense.

"So than why don't you just give the Greek whore what she wants? Afterwards, she'll forget about you and leave you alone." Colin was rarely refined in his language, but his words did have a certain ring of truth in them.

"Well that's not going to happen no matter how many times she gets people to smash my face in. Why is she so focused on me though? I mean, there have been others that have denied her before, and even though she says otherwise, they continued to deny her to their dying day. Why does she have such a personal vendetta against me? Well, against Hector Wise, I know why she hates me."

"You know that the reason why those who deny Aphrodite tend to deny her till their dying day is because they tend to die because Aphrodite feels slighted and get them killed. But if you want to know why you're so special to her, it's because of how you look," Bal said closing the container of his food and opening a book. "You look plain which is the start of it, but the real problem is that you denied her. If you lusted after her and licked her shoes like she's used to, she would have just ignored you. Instead, you refused to play her game and turned her down. You insulted her pride Hector and she deluded herself into thinking that such a thing couldn't happen and now, you fascinate her. Instead of a servant she now sees you as someone playing hard to get in a game between the two of you, and games of the heart Aphrodite claims to always win. Even if she doesn't really understand the concept," Bal said slamming his book shut when he stopped talking. I couldn't see the cover of the book, but I'm pretty sure he just pulled it out so it would look better when he explained things.

Listen, you may not have realized this, but I'm kind of smart, like really kind of smart. I just don't act like it, knowing things that others don't, tends to make those others angry at you. But people don't get angry at stupid people, people get frustrated at stupid people, people get annoyed at stupid people, but in the end, often times they forgive stupid people. Because that's what smart people tend to do, because they are better than the stupid people. Bal was probably right, I kind of decided that it was the best reason that I could think of a long time ago, but filed I it away as something that I had no power to change so I forgot about it. Even though I knew he was most likely right, instead of saying something reasonable and agreeing with him I chose a different route. "Stop with your psychobabble witchcraft," I said in an admittedly childish tone. That was a warning that I didn't want to talk about this anymore, the other two knew what it meant also. They knew, they didn't understand or care, but they knew which is what they decided was important… jerks.

"We'll stop," Bal said.

"We will," Colin asked surprised, obviously they had not prepared this ahead of time to double team me, or if they had this was not how they rehearsed.

Bal glared at Colin for a moment, even if he wasn't a warrior Bal's glares are rather scary, and Colin relented. "Yes, we will. But I just want to know, what are you planning on doing?"

That was the million talent question I guess, if I was as smart as everyone said I was, or at least the real me was, than I would know what to do. But unfortunately, I know I'm not, "I don't think there's anything that I can do alright, "I'm going to do the same thing I do every time something like this comes up; bow, scrape, beg, and apologize for Aphrodite's forgiveness and hope, even though I know it's futile, that everything goes back to the way it was. For a time it will, but soon we'll be right back here and it will start all over again, but a few weeks or even a few days of peace will be worth it," even I was amazed how easily those sweet disgusting lies fell off my tongue. I may be good at spinning lies after so long, but it's just another thing that I've learned to hate about myself.

"Fine," Bal said with a frustrated sigh, but I knew he wanted to talk more. "But you know, you deserve better than this," he said to me.

That made me freeze on my way to my room. Yes, everyone says that people deserve better, but what good would demanding such things accomplish in a world of gods, monsters, and heroes, who think they deserve more than just 'better?' "It's for the true gods to say that they deserve better, new gods like me that were made from mortal flesh and a mortal soul can't say the same." It didn't sound believable, even to me, but I was tired. I needed sleep after a long day, it would be sunrise in a couple of hours.

"As someone who was born a god, I'm going to call bullshit on that," Bal said with his unmoving tone.

"As the only non-god here, except for Finn here of course," Colin said petting our tiger cub/cat affectionately, "divine or not, no one deserves to be treated the way you constantly are Hector."

I wish I could say that I got pissed off and angry with them for telling me what to do with my life, but the fact that they cared warmed my heart more than I will ever tell them. "Listen," I say, trying not to sound ungrateful or anything, "I appreciate the thoughts you guys, but right now I have to sleep. I've dealt with this stuff for years, centuries even; this was just a regular night for me. Tomorrow everything will be fine and this whole incident will be forgotten."

They exchanged a looked that said that they didn't believe a word I was saying. I can't blame them since basically everything I've said the last few minutes has been complete crap. "Fine, but this isn't over," Colin said with an heir of finality while Bal shook his head in agreement. Don't I know it.


	4. Chapter 4

This is a book that I am trying to write and hopefully one day gets published. Any suggestions or even criticisms would be immensely helpful. I know my grammar kind of sucks; I tried to do the new novel November month and cared more about quantity than quality. I have more that I may upload later, but anything would be helpful at the moment.

Modern Hero Chapter 4

Four hours, four hours of dreamless, uninterrupted sleep was all the world would allow me that night. Around 8 o'clock in the morning my phone went off, loudly, waking me from my slumber. "What," I shouted groggily, and rather annoyed, into the phone when I pick it up. That wouldn't do however, "I mean, yes, who is this?" I ask trying to sound as cordial as possible; manners were always important. I'll admit that one of my many flaws is that I'm not a morning person; it comes with working long night hours and consistently waking up from nightmares for a few thousand years.

"Hector," a voice on the other end asked a bit nervously. "It's Rebecca," a girl said on the other end. Crap, of course it would be Rebecca Law on the calling me now, former lieutenant in the Grand Haven police, former head of the more Abnormal crimes unit, currently a hardboiled private detective who refuses to play by the man's rules, and a young woman who I've known since she had pigtails in her hair.

"Yeah, it's me Rebecca," I say in what I hope could be thought of as an upbeat tone. "What can I do for you this morning," I ask.

"Well it's not really something that I can talk about over the phone, can you meet me at Best Coffee in a half an hour?" she asked. I have seen Rebecca shoot a charging frost giant without flinching, I have personally taught her how to wrestle a full grown man to the ground, but for some reason, unless it was a very good reason, she never whenever she asked for a favor she became that same little girl I helped raise.

It would be annoying to get up this early, but I guess I didn't really need to sleep. "Sure," I said. I was already up before she finished asking, "I'll be there."

"Good, I will see you then," Rebecca said quickly and hung up before I could get a word in. She always tended to be a rather shy girl except when she was on a case, but she seemed particularly shy today. She must be asking for a big favor if she was this mousy over the phone. Well, she was a bride to be, and in little more than a week a full bride so I can excuse her odd behavior. She wouldn't be on the job in a day or so, perhaps it was something that needed to be done quickly, or maybe she just wanted to talk about the wedding with me. I was one of the big players in the planning of the ceremony; I've had to do practically everything for the wedding save giving her away and kissing her under the arches.

After a quick shower I pulled on a jacket and pants, grabbed my keys and got ready to leave. When I decided that I looked as presentable I would be I left my room. When I entered the main living area of which my room was connected to, I saw Colin, shirtless, sitting at the island in our kitchen eating my cereal with milk; there were also three very attractive women with him, in their underwear. I looked at them silently for a moment, and Colin looked back at me also not saying anything. He took another bite of wet cereal and that seemed to break the spell and I walked over to our kitchen and dumped out the rest of the box with a bipedial Finn on it into a bowl. There was barely anything left after Colin and his 'friends,' got their share so I got a smaller bowl for myself, 'greeeeaaaatttt'.

"You should go back to bed Hector. You've been asleep for like three hours, and that's being generous," Colin said through a mouthful of cereal and milk.

I write his advice off of course, other people claimed I was smart in life, I will never claim to be smart in… my eternal life. "Three hours is more than enough. I don't even need to sleep if I don't want to," I say munching down on my breakfast. Food is different from sleep, food is something that even Olympians need, but I guess I'll get a muffin or something at Best's.

Colin just shook his head, "you don't need to sleep you need to rest though. Sleep and rest are completely different and you know it. You're a warrior, same as me; you've experienced the difference first hand."

That was true, but I didn't have to let him know that, so I decided to try and change the topic, "who are your friends."

He introduced the redhead as Misty, the blonde as Miki, and the brunette as Donna. The three of them seemed to be nervous around me for some reason, maybe they didn't do things like this often. "We work together down at the agency with Bal," Colin explained.

"Were they here when I got back home," I asked kind of confused since I don't think three hours was enough time to call these girls up and bring them over.

"No," Colin said completely seriously, "they were busy sleeping off round four when you came home." He had no shame whatsoever, but the girls had the decency to blush at his statement.

"Does your wife know about these young ladies," I asked him.

"Em's overseas," Colin said, obviously annoyed with me for bringing it up. "And like always, she'd be fine with it even if she did know about it."

"Yeah, they actually have a lovely, if open, marriage," I assured the girls who looked terrified that they may have broken up a home.

"We all have needs and Em understands that," Colin said, "it's fine with her if I lay with other women, as long as it's only physical," he told the girls. I knew that Colin wouldn't promise anything more than a single night; in the terms of the heart he was completely faithful to his wife. I don't know how they do it, but they are still in love after all these years. "Maybe you should try it out sometime," he told me and even though I knew it was coming I let out a sigh. "Wait, don't just right me off," he said grabbing my wrist when I started to walk away. "Listen, I know plenty of nice girls, sweet girls, who aren't looking for something serious and would love to spend a night with a nice guy like you."

"Yeah, I don't think I'm up for that Colin," I said kind of frustrated, but I tried my best not to let it slip into my voice. "I've tried it before, a couple times," he managed to slip in a 'not recently,' in a cheeky tone, "and it didn't end well," I practically growled, "it didn't feel right."

"That's because you didn't let it," Colin said practically pleading now. "You want love, I get it, love's great, but at the end of the day, you can't let it stop yourself from living. You find these girls, who are willing to lay with you even with your mask on. It's just a night and just the physical act of sex, but you don't let yourself enjoy the feeling of a girl below you. You never let yourself enjoy it, because they aren't ever the woman you want them to be."

He might have had something else to say, but I'll never know. I can't even remember getting up or grabbing him by the throat, but there we were. I was holding him up by his throat after I slammed him against one of our walls. "You go too far Colin," I snarled like a beast, not even sounding like me.

But Colin wasn't at all frightened; he had known me too long and see so much worse to be scared of me when I'm a bit cranky. "Hector, you're scaring them," he said in a gentle steady voice as he nudged his head in the direction of the girls. The three, of what I assumed were, Normal girls who were huddled together with each other in fright, of me.

I took a deep breath to clear my head and slowly put him down, I mumbled a muffled apology with a weak explanation behind it, but he just shook his head. "Hey girls," Colin called over to the girls with the same tone he had been using before with a nice gentle smile on his face, "why don't you go back into my room and get dressed, I'll walk the three of you home after I'm done with my pal here." The three girls silently moved walked together into Colin's room every now and then they glanced at me with fear in their eyes. Those looks simply added to the guilt that was already piling all over me. I walked out of the kitchen and collapsed into my chair and I felt just how exhausted I really was already, this morning was not getting off to a good start.

Colin got out our water filter from the fridge and poured me a glass along with one for him before sitting down on the couch next to me. "I get it Hector, and to be honest, I did go too far, and I'm sorry for doing so, but I worry about you. You and Bal are my best friends, and I only want to do what I can for you guys, you especially worry me sometimes Hector. You don't act like yourself anymore, you get a new name, and you become that person leaving the man you were buried deep within you.

This conversation was getting too… much for me right now, "I know, I know you just want to help, but my happiness is a small price to pay than the shear amount of shit I will have to go through if I live like any other Abnormal. So I appreciate it, but I can take care of myself, and as frustrating the way I've lived all these years has been, it's been a safe life," I say grabbing my keys and starting for the door.

"Alright, just think about it though aright," he made me promise and I gave a slight nod. Which thinking about it, was probably stupid of me, promises were too important to break, I never broke one. now I really would have to actually think about standing up for myself. This sucks. "Where are you heading so early anyway," he asked noticing that I was already dressed for the day.

"Rebecca called me asking if I could meet her at Best's. I think she has a case that she wants my help on, one that deals with our type of problems." This wasn't a normal occurrence, but it was by no means rare either so Colin already knew what I meant by 'our problems.'

"Hmm, and here I thought you weren't going to follow my advice," he said with a cheeky grin that he loved to give everyone.

It took my sleep addled brain a moment to realize what he was talking about, "no," I practically shrieked. "I helped deliver her when she was born, Colin. We do not make jokes about this, about her," I commanded more than said. We might have both been warrior kings in another life, but I had a couple thousand years on him so I had more practice with the tone. I've been rusty with it since I haven't used it in a long time, but experience won out in the end and he backed down.

"Alright, alright, Becca's is not someone we joke about, got it," but he got to me and he knew it.

"I'll be back in a few hours," I say leaving finally, I was starving and I really wanted my muffin.

"When you come back can you stop by the store and pick up some more cereal," Colin called as I closed the door to meet Rebecca at Best's.


End file.
